The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Why supply those wooden hides and then let the reeds and grass grow up around them so high you can't see/photograph out of them, what is the point?
Some hide slits are already completely obliterated. Do we have to do the job ourselves? Pass me one of those old scythes !!

I know where you're coming from..in a particular hide "near a big bridge" alot of folk were complaining..when volenteering my services the health & safety kicked in..by the time the grasses were cut the bird we were all after had long gone..suppose everybody is too busy...!"

Clearly this is yet another hide. I wonder how many folk are raging about this? I was told by a warden (nice guy otherwise) that he wasn't going to cut the reeds because the water rails needed cover to run round the margins.
There are literally acres of reeds and if they cut the reeds down to even 5ft high right in front of hide and then a lot lower the further away from the hide, the bloomin rails would still have ample cover.

There are some great sedge, reed and white-throat pics to be had (and what else?) but only if they cut the reeds because we can hardly see out now.

So our nature reserves should now be managed so that photographers can get their pictures? I'm on the side of the warden - birds first - photographers etc. second.

Our hides should be managed so that the general public can see out of them. Photographers included. What's the point in the hide if you can't see out of it? Andy you don't happen to be talking about a certain Diver do you?

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http://anthonybentleywildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

UK life list 310 (Harlequin Duck)
Lincolnshire List 246 (Puffin)
Village (Brigsley) list 99 (Shelduck)

Thanks Anthony

Good point Anthony..hides are there to be looked out of..a diver yes..a pretty blue & orange thing..some people dont like photographers do they..one chap was complaining about us..then put a camera on his scope..ha ha

We had a hide hidden really well the other week. I was truly impressed at the lengths that our summer visitors (people on adventures) go to to express their curiosity about what hides may be for. When they ripped out the windows and threw them into the lake to entertain themselves I knew that summer was here. Shooting grebes from the roof, burning them to the ground, smashing them up for camp fires, daubing them with crude suggestions, toilet deposits, sex, booze ups, litter bins and climbing frames are all pastimes of warmer times and if you're lucky you may see the teenagers swimming across the lake and standing on the tern raft (two chicks diving into the water to escape) or the chuckling thugs who set fire to piles of compost and catapult anything that moves.

Hides. A constant source of amusement.

Clearly I have been missing out, I didn't realise so much fun was to be had within the confines of a hide and I have been wasting all that time with a bloomin camera!

Come off it, Stuart. You cannot complain about photographers wanting a clear view and then "manage" the habitat so that you can put your ringing nets up! What's the difference?
Mike Tarrant

Interesting debate.

Thankfully nothing has obscured me from looking out my portable hide, namely the car.

Kind regards

Max

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

there has been a phenomenal growth of vegetation this year with reeds maybe up to 1m higher than normal and it is very easy for hides to disappear and the view to go from them if not managed. unfortunately I feel the problem is that managing the view from the hide is a second thought when it becomes obscured and then if the reeds are high enough there may be reed warblers nesting in them but if things were kept cut and low from the start of the spring growing season and trimmed every few weeks it would be much easier to keep on top of things and nothing would be nesting in the vegetation. The Water Rail argument is a bit silly really as I see them 30m away from vegetation in the same pit feeding in the open and walking between reed and sedge clumps without taking the long route round via sedge beds. The whole point of an observation hide is surely to make things visible and prevent disturbance from people blundering around in the open adjacent to it so there can surely be no argument for not maintaining the desired view. One way of keeping miscreants out of hides is to make sure they are full of birdwatchers and photographers but for that you need to be able to see something first.

Very well put Mike ... ... Yes What's the difference Stuart ...

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Regards
Dean Eades



Take nothing but photos - Leave nothing but footprints - Waste nothing but time

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It's quite simple, Mike and Dean. In over 30 years I have NEVER put a net up or ringed anywhere where there is a hide which is there to allow birders/photographers etc. to view birds undisturbed. I think you will agree with Graham's comments about exceptional vegetation growth and my point is that the Warden has several factors to take into account before removing "offending" vegetation. I have been training and examining ringers for over 25 years and the number 1 rule which is dinned into all trainees is that the birds' welfare comes first. No doubt someone will dig out some historic instance where this wasn't the case but there are bad apples in every barrel. Bird welfare first - everything else second.

I think Mike and Dean's point is that you have to manage a certain area to Ring birds. Cut paths to get to nets etc. I wouldn't expect any ringer to use a public hide. Ringer's don't need to be hidden to see birds really, they just catch them in nets.

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http://anthonybentleywildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

UK life list 310 (Harlequin Duck)
Lincolnshire List 246 (Puffin)
Village (Brigsley) list 99 (Shelduck)

Thanks Anthony

Sorry, Anthony, I obviously wasn't clear enough. This thread is about hides on nature reserves - apart from Ringing Courses at Gibraltar Point and a nest box study at Linwood Warren, I do not ring on Nature Reserves - most of my sites are on Forestry Commission or private land. Yes, I do manage paths and rides but this is always done prior to the breeding season to alleviate disturbance. I would be delighted to invite you and anyone else to join me on a ringing session to see what I do - it's a bit more than "just catch them in nets". Dean and his father and Freddy Johnson have both taken up the offer in the past!!